The one-phrase players do not want to hear this time of year
is “coach wants to see you and bring your playbook.” That is NFL mumbo jumbo for its time for you
to “hit the pavement.” Each NFL team has
to cut its roster down to 75 would be players by Tuesday August 27 by 4 p.m. After the cut down to 75, there will be a
final set of snipping to get each team down to their 53-man rosters by August
31 by 6 p.m. This is a tough stretch for
players as they are lost between tomorrow and yesterday and between now and
then.
However, football players are a different breed. For most, but not all, football is all they know and all they want. Seeing up close, one can tell why. The admiration by so many, even in preseason, the “life” led during the time one dons the shoulder pads is unmatched. To feel the highest of the high, if only for a fleeting moment, is greater than living 40 years in the ordinary. Therefore, the let down when a dream is lost for a “monster of the midway” is a harder fall. Going from Sunday greatness to Monday mundane is a big deal.
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While some players will find work on active rosters and
practice squads, the painful reality, that cuts deeper than a Randall Made
Knife, is that some players will go from catching spirals and banging heads to
washing cars at Scrub-A-Dub.
For common folk like you and me, folks that might bounce
around from job to job or get their pink slips and a gold watch after 25 years
of service from their local mega-corporation, we are better equipped to handle
other types of work. When you are mired
in mediocrity going to mediocrity is no big deal.
However, football players are a different breed. For most, but not all, football is all they know and all they want. Seeing up close, one can tell why. The admiration by so many, even in preseason, the “life” led during the time one dons the shoulder pads is unmatched. To feel the highest of the high, if only for a fleeting moment, is greater than living 40 years in the ordinary. Therefore, the let down when a dream is lost for a “monster of the midway” is a harder fall. Going from Sunday greatness to Monday mundane is a big deal.
It is all about survival.
The fourth preseason game is a player’s last effort to show what he can
do. To see if they have what it takes to
bang bodies with the big boys or shine tires with common folk like me. For the “boys on the bubble,” press on and good
luck and remember it is better to have dared greatly, then to be with those lost
and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
Talk football talk cigars talk anything, I know a little about a lot.
Follow @TheNFLInjuryRpt
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